Black Sheep: An Honest Attempt At Gender Equality… THE HIJRAS!

Jackie Shroff’s daughter Krishna Shroff is the associate producer of the feature length documentary project in the making called ‘Black Sheep’. 

Unlike her brother who did a ‘Heropanti’ stunt in the industry, Krishna seems to be involved with quite serious projects. 

The documentary is about the hijra communities in India. 

The trailer makes a clear message that everyone has the right to choose his or her own destiny. 

Why doesn’t the same rule apply when we talk of ‘them’?  

The film is supposed to be released next year.

Reshel Shah– the director of the documentary initially wanted to go with the idea of a heterosexual man’s journey into becoming a hijra. Then she realized that the film is about the hijra community and the man just doesn’t fit there. She came to an understanding that a heterosexual man can’t really reflect the aspects of a hijra. 

The documentary in 2001 ‘Bombay Eunuch’ also dealt with issues of the hijra communities. But while that film talked about the struggle and showed prostitution as their way of income, this film trailer shows them in varied fields ranging from fashionistas to creative talents. 

That is the striking feature of this trailer. 

It makes us think and understand that employment opportunities cannot be denied to someone based on the gender. 

Right from employment opportunity to their right to choose their sexual partners to the right to being happy, no one has the right to deny them their rights. 

Filming is fine but the main problem in the society is the identification and awareness about genders and sexual preferences.

There are transgender communities, cross dressers;concept of sexual preferences and gender understanding is highly blurred. In a country where sex is a taboo, transgender communities face a serious problem of conveniently being marked as outcastes. 

Society is structured in a way, for example the public toilets are broadly classified into men and women but we do have a large number of hijras in our community. 

What about them?  

The basic differentiation or the understanding is missing. Till that awareness is done nothing will actually serve the purpose. 

The impactful trailer did strike a chord. 

Would it actually create awareness and change the attitude of the society? 

Would it be just another documentary that might win awards but the society would forget over a ‘Big Boss’ show? 

Something that I am really looking forward to.

Black Sheep Trailer: